The ambitious Melbourne Now publishing program consists of four books developed to launch alongside the show: a highly embellished limited-edition volume, Hotham Street Ladies: A Book for Kids, the Melbourne Now exhibition guide and a multimedia-augmented ebook.
For me, after months of intensive copyediting, involving much correspondence with contributors on all manner of editorial concerns, to be at the business end of proceedings for these publications hardly seems real. Only when sample printed copies of the finalised exhibition guide – a mammoth all-Gallery collaborative effort – were delivered, hand-wrapped in brown paper (see left), did the real scope and achievement of the Melbourne Now publishing program hit home.
The exhibition guide and ebook are accessible, readable primers on the wide range of art and ideas included in Melbourne Now. Each contains lucid expositions on all works included in the exhibition and their location details, including maps. Additionally the ebook, which may be read in HTML format or as pages on your iPad, contains discursive readings of themes in the exhibition by NGV curators and guest scholars Nikos Papastergiadis and Fleur Watson, as well as artists’ personal interpretations of their works via question-and-answer exchange.
All Melbourne Now publications will be available from NGV shops and online from 22 November 2013. We can’t wait!
Melbourne Now exhibition guide, paperback, 384 pages, $9.95
Melbourne Now ebook, free for iPad and Android users
Melbourne Now limited-edition book, 280 pages, hardcover, $100
Hotham Street Ladies: A Book for Kids, 88 pages, hardcover, $14.95
The Melbourne Now exhibition guide, ebook and limited edition book are supported by the Vizard Foundation. Hotham Street Ladies: A Book for Kids is supported by Melbourne Now Champions the Dewhurst family.